When all my buttons are pressed, when every flavor is satisfied and yet there’s something more underlying that is very satisfying I am known to scream out: Ooooo-Mom-Meeee.
I’m not calling for my motha. I’m talking about the combinations that are extremely satisfying. I’m sure you are not thrilled with Wiki, but I think they explain it better than I am doing.
Umami has a mild but lasting aftertaste associated with salivation and a sensation of furriness on the tongue, stimulating the throat, the roof and the back of the mouth. By itself, umami is not palatable, but it makes a great variety of foods pleasant, especially in the presence of a matching aroma.
And so for a million years, and I mean it, a million years, I have been studying the making of egg rolls. When I returned to NY for my high school reunion, I hit all the restaurants I grew up with, the one’s that were still in business, I should say….. and asked the trick to making NY Egg Rolls, something I had been craving for decades.
I remember when I first married a fellow NY’er who I was with for 30 years, when his mother would come visit, I always asked that she bring 2 dozen Egg Rolls and a dozen bagels. Right into the freezer after eating one or two. I could function in California, as long as I had Egg Rolls and Bagels.
I also remember living in Manchester New Hampshire, as a disc jockey and newscaster. I started making bagels from scratch. People were asking me things like: “If you are Jewish, where are your horns?”…. lol And I worked hard on creating Egg Rolls once I moved to California, without deep frying them.
This past month, during Covid, has been the first time in 10 years, that I finally started getting motivated to cook and create. Once you can create most of the things you see on the food channel, better than what they are showing you…. the life goes out of you. At least it did me. But with people like Alex Guarnaschelli and Michael Symon talking me through new concepts, with Valerie Bertinelli becoming my favorite home cook, Guy Fieri, doing a show at home with top chefs, answering the few questions I had left….. it sparked me to start creating again.
So let me share an Umami story…. You know Chinese Ribs from NY? Probably not. But they are heaven. I eat plant based most of the time. But Chinese Ribs and Avocado/Shrimp Egg Rolls, are the two meals I fall off the wagon for, especially if I’m cooking. And do you want to know the simple trick to getting that pork rib flavor that you can stuff into Egg Rolls?
Five Spice and Red Bean Curd. Garlic, honey, soy sauce and maybe kosher salt will give you that most satisfying flavor.
Healthy Happy Eating,
